Jordan Williams, the 20-year-old man who was accused of fatally stabbing a New York City subway passenger, will avoid prosecution, city officials said Wednesday.
A grand jury has declined to indict Williams on manslaughter and weapons charges in connection with the June 13 fatal stabbing of Devictor Quedraogo on a Brooklyn J train.
Quedraogo is alleged to have beaten Williams’ girlfriend and harassed other passengers.
“Our office conducted a thorough and impartial investigation of this tragic case, including review of multiple videos and interviews with all available witnesses, and that evidence was fairly presented before a grand jury,” a statement from the office said. Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office. Today, the charges against Jordan Williams have been dismissed.”
Williams was arrested following the incident earlier this month, and his attorney, Jason Goldman, previously said his client had acted in self-defense.
The grand jury seemed to agree.
“Under New York law, a person is justified in the use of deadly physical force when he reasonably believes that such force is necessary to defend himself or others from the imminent use of deadly or unlawful physical force,” the statement said. district attorney’s office in its statement.
‘Happy to be able to move on with my life’
Addressing the grand jury’s decision Wednesday, Williams said he had been “scared in that situation.” NBC New York informed.
“I am happy to be able to continue with my life as I would like,” he said.
The deadly altercation unfolded just after 8 p.m. June 13 on a northbound J train as it approached Marcy Avenue and Broadway, New York police said.
Ouedraogo was taken to New York-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital with a stab wound to the chest and was later pronounced dead at the hospital, police said.
Police sources had said NBC New York that Ouedraogo had allegedly been harassing people on the train and acting belligerent and erratic.
A police officer told the station that one of the people he harassed was Williams’ girlfriend, and a source told NBC New York that Ouedraogo had hit her. It was unclear what exactly happened in the lead up to the stabbing.
The case drew comparisons to other fatal crashes.
At first, the deadly incident drew comparisons to the altercation that resulted in the death of Jordan Neely, 30, a former Michael Jackson impersonator who died in May after a US Navy veteran took a metro.
The same day Williams’ charges were dropped, the suspect in Neely’s death, Daniel Penny, 24, pleaded not guilty to second-degree manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide in Neely’s death.
In the May 1 incident, it was alleged that Neely was screaming and begging for money when Penny pinned him to the floor of the moving subway car with the help of two other passengers and held him in the chokehold for more than three minutes. Neely lost consciousness during the incident and was pronounced dead at a hospital.
A grand jury voted to indict Penny on updated charges earlier this month, and Penny’s arraignment Wednesday on the charges lasted only a few minutes. Penny, who is out on bail, said few words, saying only that she was “not guilty” before walking out of the courtroom with her lawyers.
Penny, who served in the Marine Corps for four years and was discharged in 2021, previously said he acted to protect himself and others from Neely, who reportedly yelled “I’m going to kill you” and said he was “ready.” . die” or go to jail for life.
“I was yelling in their faces by saying these threats,” Penny said in a video previously released by her lawyers. “I just couldn’t sit still.”
Neely’s family members and supporters have said Neely, who was battling mental illness and homelessness, was crying out for help only to be met with violence.
Traffic crime in New York City is down nearly 8 percent overall, according to the MTA, which said it is cooperating with investigations into both incidents that garnered national attention.
